The New York Police Department baseball team packed up their uniforms, bats and balls and headed to Dallas Monday for a charity tournament and a quick break from fighting crime– or so they thought.
After winning three games and losing one, the 18 officers were getting ready for the championship game against the Dallas Fire Department Friday morning when they discovered their rented vehicle had been broken into in their hotel parking lot, Dallas police said.
An unknown suspect stole the team’s jerseys and baseball equipment, all of which were self-funded by the players. The property stolen did not include any NYPD issued weapons, badges or duty gear, police said.
Dallas police did receive an abandoned property call at a nearby apartment complex, and were able to recover a small portion of the stolen equipment. The investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, the New York Finest Baseball Club spent game day filing police reports instead of taking the field. The game could not be rescheduled before their Saturday return flight to New York City.
“We were in the mind-set: We’re gonna win a championship,” Officer Dennis O’Sullivan, of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit, told the New York Daily News. “We know it’s material things, things that can be replaced. But it is disappointing.”
The News also reports that much of the equipment was custom-made.
